It’s that time of year again! For the New York City Chocolate Show, I mean. Like each year, it showcases some old favorites and some delicious new finds.

Chocolove: Has three new bars to add to their lineup. A “Coffee Crunch in Dark Chocolate”, “Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate” and “Peppermint in Dark Chocolate”. Each one has a nice texture and a full flavor true to Chocolove’s other chocolate bars. I tried all three and they were quite nice. I’d certainly search them out once I start seeing them in stores.

William Dean Chocolates: Aren’t these just beautiful? William Dean Chocolates was a new find for me, even though I found their logo very familiar. I talked to Bill, the Chief Chocolate Officer about the chocolates and confections they made. I tried a few of their bonbons and really loved them. I also tried their Pate de Fruit which was extremely flavorful.

Peanut Butter & Co: Instead of coming out with their box of different flavored peanut butter cups this year, they have two delightful tins of Chocolate Covered Peanuts and Chocolate Covered Peanut Brittle. The Chocolate Covered Peanuts are addicting, and are hard to stop eating once you open the can. The Brittle is very unique, as the texture is similar to honeycomb candy, as it has that lightly crunchy aerated texture. Both are wonderful and I’ll be reviewing both for the blog soon.

Aroa Fine Chocolate: Aroa is another new find, and they had some beautifully rich and flavorful bonbons made with El Rey couveture which delivered an intense chocolate punch when I tasted them. The texture of these bonbons really wow-ed me, as the shells to them were so delicate and thin, they reminded me of the chocolate coating on dipped soft serve. It was really different and extremely well done.

Guittard: Guittard had a few new things to showcase this time at the show. The first, and te most impressive, is their new dark chocolate called 70% Compexite, which is a blend of 9 single origin beans. It’s a wonderful flavor profile which is full of chocolate flavors mixed with caramel, earth, and coffee. It has beautiful notes of fruit and none of the acidity. Also there were different percentage baking chips (the white chocolate ones are my favorite) and small bottles of their chocolate dessert sauce.

Fika Choklad: A chocolatier native to New York City that I’d not heard of. Imagine that! They have stores on 5th Ave and Park Ave, and I plan to visit them once I head back into the city. I tasted one of their bonbons, a raspberry licorice one, which really blew me away. Licorice and chocolate are hard flavors to marry, but the addition of raspberry really made the two flavors meld together harmoniously. It was awesome to say the least.

I’m very excited with my finds and I can’t wait to see what the show has in store for me next year!